3/5 thomasbohanoi: BEYOND THE MISERY - Against all odds, Lê Minh Châu has become an artist in his own right.

“I do not like to be looked at as a victim of Agent Orange. I cannot deny that the chemicals made me what I am, but I am Châu, the artist. I am not Châu, the victim. I do not want people to feel sorry for me. I do not want gifts, I do not want support – give it to people who need it. You can buy my paintings, if you like them. Do not buy them, if you just feel sorry for me! I can take care of myself.”

30/1 Toui Tre: Meet a limbless little girl in Vietnam - Chi is a third-generation Agent Orange victim, inheriting dioxin from her paternal grandfather who fought in the American war in Vietnam.

2016

19/10 Toui Tre: Vietnam, US launch Da Nang dioxin clean-up - Vietnam and the United States launched the second phase of a dioxin clean-up in Da Nang, where millions of litres of Agent Orange were stored during the war between the countries.

28/4 2015 Thomas Bo Pedersen blog: AGENT ORANGE: A LETTER FOR OBAMA - 40 years ago, peace finally arrived in Vietnam. A long and bloody war came to an end, but not for all. Still today, thousands of Vietnamese, American and allied soldiers – and their families – suffer from Agent Orange exposure. The deadliest toxic ever invented by man.

OBAMA ON AGENT ORANGE - One very important statement in Obama's Hanoi speech to 'The Vietnamese government and people' has gone remarkably unnoticed. I believe that this was the first time ever a US president has refered publicly and explicitly to the tragedy of Agent Orange. Obama not only mentioned the ongoing clean-up project in Da Nang, but also announced a US commitment to fund the clean-up of the highly toxic soil at the former US airbase in Bien Hoa. A big congrats to Charles Bailey and all the other Agent Orange advocats, who have worked so hard to promote a US sense of responsibility. For those who want to know more, here is a link to an essay about the young Vietnamese woman, who first wrote to Obama about her plight and her fellow victims.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius and Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh feel the soil that has been cleared of dioxin in the central city of Da Nang on May 3, 2016. Photo credit: Nguyen Dong/VnExpress
US and Vietnamese officials press start button for Agent Orange clean up project in Da Nang, April 19, 2014. (Marianne Brown/VOA)

DA NANG 2014 - Government officials from the U.S. and Vietnam attended a ceremony Saturday 18/4 2014 marking the next stage in the cleanup process of one of the Vietnam War's deadliest legacies - Agent Orange.
The herbicide was sprayed by the U.S. military as a defoliant to destroy jungle cover for communist troops. Its highly toxic byproduct, dioxin, has been linked to diseases such as diabetes, cancer and birth defects.
The $84 million project, officially launched in 2012, aims to clean up contaminated soil by cooking it at high temperatures.19/4 2014 VOA: War Legacy Haunts Vietnam, US Relations
14/4 2014 Veterans for Peace: VFP Vietnam Tour: Danang Airport
27/3 2014 VietnamNet: Da Nang airport dioxin contaminated soil project set for April

14/11 Consortiumnews: The Enduring Crime of ‘Agent Orange’ - A half century ago, the USA government began a campaign of spraying Agent Orange herbicides on the forests of Southeast Asia, thinking that by defoliating vast areas, the military could more effectively bomb the “enemy” but instead created an ecological and health catastrophe

16/11 Vietnam Full Disclosure: War Crimes: Agent Orange, Monsanto, Dow Chemical and Other Ugly Legacies of the Vietnam War - Fifty years ago this next month (December 1965), with the urging of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the rubber stamp approval of President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, the United States Air Force started secretly spraying the forests of Laos with a deadly herbicide that was known as Agent Orange

5/8 ABC Tropical North: 3,500km journey aims to help children affected by Vietnam War - Teaching English to blind children affected by Agent Orange, a herbicidal warfare program used during the Vietnam War, inspired Joe Edwards to walk more than 3,500 kilometres to help improve the plight of disadvantaged children in Vietnam

23/4 Reuters: Legacy of Agent Orange - The remnant of USA war that will never go away. The USA caused it, Monsanto and the other manufacturers created it - and neither will accept responsibility for it's ongoing consequence. This is one of the worst war crimes in history, and chemically dispensed violating ALL treaties and agreements internationally. Military and civilians AND their families on all sides continue to die as a result. We are now well into the 4th generation of this living hell.

8/7 RT: Monsanto begins compensating victims of dioxin exposure - Residents of a West Virginia town in USA that formerly hosted a Monsanto factory that produced noxious, cancer-causing chemicals can begin receiving assistance promised through a 2012, multi-million-dollar settlement.

DA NANG, VIETNAM - Government officials from the U.S. and Vietnam attended a ceremony Saturday 18/4 marking the next stage in the cleanup process of one of the Vietnam War's deadliest legacies - Agent Orange.
The herbicide was sprayed by the U.S. military as a defoliant to destroy jungle cover for communist troops. Its highly toxic byproduct, dioxin, has been linked to diseases such as diabetes, cancer and birth defects.
The $84 million project, officially launched in 2012, aims to clean up contaminated soil by cooking it at high temperatures.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Disability Compensation for Agent Orange Diseases. For the purposes of disability compensation, VA presumes that Veterans were exposed to Agent Orange or other herbicides if they served in Vietnam anytime between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975.

Agent Orange Day 10. August

On August 10th, 1961, the US Government started spraying Viet Nam with one of the most deadly chemicals known to man - Agent Orange. More than 20 million gallons (76 million litres) of herbicides were used on The Vietnamese from 1961-1971. The concentrations were 20 to 55 times normal agricultural use for killing plants. Estimates of the number of Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange are over 3 million.

19/7 Talk Vietnam: A special ceremony will be broadcast live by Vietnam Television on August 10, which was the day 62 years ago the US began to spray dioxin-contained herbicides over Vietnam. On the occasion, VAVA will release a book and a film tracking its decade-long journey with Vietnamese AO victims. According to VAVA President, Senior Lieut. Gen Nguyen Nguyen Van Rinh, the activities aim to raise public awareness of the dioxin catastrophe while calling for more support from organisations and individuals both at home and abroad.

Clean up in Da Nang

24/8 Thanh Nien: Blood samples from Da Nang contain dioxin
Since the article was published on Dantri and other newspapers, many local residents in Da Nang were terrified. Some contacted me about this information. On behalf of dioxin program team from VPHA, I answered some reporters that: the information published was not sufficient enough and created fear to the public. It was not superise that the blood tests being positive for dioxin, but the imporant missing information was that the dioxin were present at what levels? Studies have documented concentrations of dioxin in human blood and breast milk samples in different areas of Vietnam (non sprayed areas, non hot spot areas, e.g. Ha Noi, Thanh Hoa...) and other countries, so it was not superise that blood tests of people in Danang being positive with dioxin! For example: studies have shown the dioxin concentrations of general population from different countries as following: USA (4.4ppt), Russia (7.3 ppt), Germany (2.4ppt), Spain (1.6ppt), Canada (4ppt)… or in Thanh Hoa Province (2.9ppt), Hanoi City (2.4ppt)... I think apart from efforts to remediate the dioxin hot spots like Da Nang, Bien Hoa airbases, risk communication activities should be continued and strenghthened at all identified hot spots, so that the local residents understand the risk and take actions to reduce their risks of being further exposed to dioxin
Ms. Tran Thi Tuyet Hanh, MPH, BSc. Lecturer, Environmental Health Department, HSPH. Researcher- Dioxin Program- VPHA

Following are some links related to Vietnamese articles published yesterday about this discussion.
http://cadn.com.vn/News/Chinh-Tri-Xa-Hoi/Thoi-Su/2012/8/30/83590.ca
http://www.vpha.org.vn/index.php/Tin-hoat-dong/thong-tin-mu-mau-nhim-dioxin-ngi-dan-cn-binh-tnh.html
http://www.vietnamplus.vn/Home/Vu-100-mau-mau-nhiem-dioxin-Can-phai-binh-tinh/20128/156302.vnplus

Scorched Earth - By Fred Wilcox. September 2011, 256 pages - £12.37

LINKTO BOOKS IN AO DOCUMENTATION
Reveal Vietnamese and Americans still suffering from Dioxin exposure. Scorched Earth is the first book to chronicle the effects of chemical warfare on the Vietnamese people and their environment, where, even today people are sick and dying from birth defects, cancer, and other illnesses that can be directly traced to Agent Orange/dioxin exposure.“Focusing on one central element, chemical warfare, Wilcox’s harrowing study spells out the record with shattering clarity, relying on personal testimony, visual imagery, and cold fact. No decent person can fail to be appalled, or to be inspired to do we can to help the victims: the suffering people and the ravaged land.” —NOAM CHOMSKY